One major difference between the old and new Think Tank is that the old used a threaded view, the new uses a flat view.
Threaded view is an excellent method of looking at only one single post in a message thread. What it does not do is preserve the time sequence of the postings. What then happens is that a member will see a post and want to make a reply to it, and being in threaded view will not see that it may have been answered 2, 3, or more times already. The solution to this is to use a flat view.
Additionally the threaded view utilized too much viewing space, while the flat view has one line per topic, with summary information available.
Another plus for the flat view layout is that if someone wants to follow a topic conversation, they will only need to click once. The threaded view requires a click for every response.
In flat view, every time someone replies to a topic, that topic will move to the top of the list. This is an ideal solution to keep active topics highly visible.
When you come to the default page, you will see a listing of all the “topics” posted by fellow members. The topics at the top are the newest or more recently replied to. As a topic ages, it will move downward.
To create a new topic or to ask a question, click the “New Topic” button.
Clicking on a topic will take you to the original post and all replies. Optionally, you will find an icon in the “Last Post” column that will take you to the last message in the topic. Clicking the “Post Reply” button will allow you to provide your own response to the current topic.
It’s hard to believe this was done to eliminate spam, as it looks remarkably like the PMQ Australia Think Tank that, just last week, was innundated much worse with spam than the old format… I’m sure we all appreciate the effort to keep the think tank on topic, but if this is the same format used on the sister site I’m afraid it probably won’t work.
You’re right. This is the same software but it will work. The Aussie Think Tank was the first to make the transition and it does have the security features necessary to prevent spammers and slammers, however, the reason you see so much spam on the Aussie Think Tank is only because our webmaster, who had worked for us for eight years, died recently and we now catching up on a backload of work which had developed as a result of his untimely death. John had such a helpful attitude and a selfless professional spirit. We will miss him as a great friend first and a webmaster of course.
We are going to bring new life to our all or our think tanks with more attention in our magazines, more expert participation and more email attention. The Think Tank is about to get better than ever. Just Stay Tuned.
Folks, PHPBB is a pretty good piece of software. It has a larger target audience for spam as it’s used more widely. However, keeping current with patches and determining good security settings is the biggest part. I love the format, but that’s probably because I also like phpbb. You will find the search features will be as good or better, and the response time will be excellent.
If the site is configured to require registration to post and requiring email confirmation to register, that will weed out the bulk of the issues.
One thing is certain, no matter which software is used, someone won’t like it.
I hate to say it, but I seem to be replying to more questions. Not that I like this format or anything. Must be because I’m still trying to figure everything out. BUT…If they ever make the old format availabe again I will use the old one.
One thing you may wnat to do is go to Internet Tools and click on Options and in the History section set your computer to keep your histry for 2 days. Also, you can look for the little icons beside the threads…you will notice some look like little pieces of while paper with the corner folded and some are white and some are yellow. The yellow ones are new threads. We are working on rewriting some of the code so it will place a “New” message beside threads that are posted since the last time you were here.
Oops - Nevermind - I AM getting yellow icons.
And I think I am dumping it with Cache, where it used to take a Cookie cleansing to reset new/old messages.
Sorry, but 17 out of 19 posts tonight as I log on are spam. The PMQ aussie sites TT reverts back to this same one. The only difference has been that someone deletes the spam more often. Maybe its just that I’m not a fan of change, but it seems that the new format has all of the problems of the old, if not more. After more than a month trial would PMQ consider switching back to the old format, or at least requiring registration to post?
The only way to reduce spam is to require registration. It seems that many users of the board see the opportunity to post anonymous messages as a feature, so PMQ decided to keep it available. As long as anonymous posting is permitted we will have to wade through spam. I think anonymous posting is unnecessary, so my vote is to turn it off.
The new format is so much better than the old that there is no comparison. I love it and wouldn’t go back to the previous version for anything!
Here’s a partial list of the great new features of this board software:
[list]New topics can always be seen, even if you use two computers (one at work and one at home) like I do. The old version would only show the new topics on one or the other computer.
Active topics are at the top of the list, so there’s no scrolling down to see the new stuff
The board supports multiple forums, so different interest areas can get their own discussion
Archiving was a mess in the previous software. If you like the thread view, it’s even better now. It used to be that when the board was archived, the beginning of a thread would be archived while the tail end of the thread was still current. In order to see the previous posts you needed to open a message in the thread. In this software you can always see all of it.
I prefer the flat view because I can read an entire thread all at once. Much better.
Formatting a message is easier and much more attractive. Quotes, text formatting, in line URL control and much more are available now and easy to use.
Easier navigation means more participation![/list]
There is a learning curve with anything new. The new board software is very easy to use, so the curve isn’t very steep, and it’s an investment that will pay you back many times over!
